Spring Days

The days have been getting longer here and our natural building skills are getting Strawnger! Puns aside I am amazed at how comfortable I have become with angle grinders, table saws and my pockets having enough straw to construct a straw gazebo in the backyard.

The changing of the seasons has brought budding flowers to the few trees brave enough to stand through the frost laden nights and fresh buggies around Mill Creek. Just today I got to experience the dynamic nature of Moab’s landscape first hand as two hawks came tumbling out of the sky no more than 30 yards away from the house whose roof I was laying sheet metal on. The two hawks had clasped talons in the air and twirled round each other as they descended, by the time my eyes caught up to them on the ground one sat on top of the other and was clearly trying to assert his dominance over the smaller more juvenile looking hawk. My groupmates David and Callie and myself paused to watch the scene play out and shared a sigh of relief when the two hawks parted from the site with the smaller one gaining distance from his pursuer toward the Sand Flats Recreation area.

As My posse and I returned to our earlier task I felt reminded of the gratitude I have felt for being able to spend the last month and a half connecting to the local environment, the 16 new loves of my life and to the new-found sense of confidence I have in my ability to build an affordable low carbon future.

My body is usually tired from the labor and adventures, the instructors have been stretching my abilities as a problem solver and my heart is full of the warmth and support shown to me by my housemates, oh and we had an amazing 3 man wedding and dance party which included completely real and wholesome traditions from the depths of our collective imaginations. Soon my days will be filled with earthen plastering and warmer days, but for now my mind is occupied with plans of backpacking and hot springs as I mentally prepare for my week reprise from Community rebuilds